WASHINGTON (AP)  The Bush administration's message Tuesday to Pakistan's politicians: We will work with you, but please keep up the fight against extremists.

With remarks like that, State Department officials are signaling a willingness to work closely with Pakistan's two leading parties, both critical of President Pervez Musharraf, a longtime U.S. ally under mounting political pressures at home.

"It's up to you how you form the government, how you try to help society," said Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state who oversees South Asia policy. "We have talked to all the parties, telling them all, 'We will work with whoever emerges as the leadership."'

Along those lines, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it "is completely up to the Pakistani political leaders to decide upon how they are going to arrange themselves in terms of power-sharing arrangements ... and all of the things that come along with forming a government."

The heads of Pakistan's leading parties, Nawaz Sharif and Ali Zardari, have vowed to form a coalition government and reinstate deposed judges.

"We want to work with the government. We want to work with society. You cannot say this too often," Boucher said at the Nixon Center, a private Washington think tank.

Boucher commended the move to restore judges removed a year ago by Musharraf. Sharif and Zardari on Sunday called for the newly elected parliament to adopt a resolution for restoration. It is expected to convene in a week or two.

Musharraf's dismissal of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry, and dozens of other judges stirred protests. The Bush administration, which had maintained strong ties with Musharraf, began to edge away from him.

In addition to supportive remarks for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League faction and Zardari's Pakistan People's Party, Boucher made plain the administration's goal was "to continue support to counter terrorism."

"Keep up the pressure against the most dangerous elements, and that includes al-Qaeda and Taliban," he said.

The basic problem, Boucher said, was lack of government authority in tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, massive suicide bombs exploded in Lahore, killing at least two dozen people. It was the latest in an outbreak of violence that Pakistani authorities blame on Taliban- and al-Qaeda-linked militants, spreading beyond their strongholds.

"Violence is not something that's new to Pakistan," McCormack said.

The Pakistani government has made great strides over the last six years in fighting extremists and terrorists, but "there's still more left to be done," the spokesman said.

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